FEDEX Won!

This was one for the record books. Six months back, if somebody were to tell me that Federer and Nadal were to meet again in the final of a Grand Slam, I would tell Tham that they were crazy.

Not only I was wrong. Such final happened and it happened at the next tournament that both of them were fit. And the battle was epic.

We were attending a kenduri at Kota Damansara that evening and once the event was done, I was able to catch the final set on my next stop. It was a hard-fought match and in the end, Federer managed to keep his cool and clinched his 18th Grand Slam title. He looked on great shape and who knew, maybe the 20th may not be a far-fetched idea ...

Big Match Later

I was not able to catch up with much tennis until this morning, when I was at the lounge waiting for patients in clinic. The results came by a bit slower than expected. So, more time for tennis.

They were showing the match from yesterday when Wawrinka got through. The real big one would be this afternoon when Federer plays his nemesis Nadal.

You know who in would be rooting for.... it would be Lendl versus Edberg once again, and there could only be one winner...

Rooting

Guess who I was rooting for? Of course it would be the great Roger Federer going for another Wimbledon title. On his way was Andy Murray. And playing at home turf, of course the crowd would be behind Murray.

The start was more than Murray would have dreamt of. He broke Federer's serve in the first game, and held his own in the next game. But like all thoroughbred champion, Federer replied quickly. And we would be for a treat. Murray was really pushing it, and at times, Federer was just about hanging on. Great stuff!

Update on Thursday, July 12, 2012 at 7:30PM by Haris Abdul Rahman

Yes! Roger did it in four sets!

Would Somebody Like Roger be a Success if he is Malaysian?

In half an hour or so, everyone in my household will be glued to the TV to watch Mr Federer (Roger to his friends) will take on the A Rod in the Winbledon Men's Singles Final. That got me thinking. Should Malaysia for some reason were to be blessed with similar talents, will we be able to polish it into a gem?

As far as I can see, there are a few hurdles, both traditional and current. We have, especially amongst Malays this mindset that sports are only for those academically challenged. Those that are talented would have been institutionally discourage from pursuing sports for fear of not doing well in their exams. I am proud to say that I went to MRSM Terendak during my formative years and benefited greatly. I am not going to pretend that sports are my forte, but the school management were so unhelpful when it come to us excelling in sports it was untrue. We were told off when we asked to take our monthly tests early because it clashed with our football games. The answer straight out of the bat was, "Did you come here to study or to play football?". Mind you, that was for state Finals! And yes, we won.

How sad to see some of our promising youngsters in sports such as gymnastics and bowling came to a head having to decide between going to University or pursuing their Sports? The problem is just not mindset, it is infrastructure as well. Our University were just not able to accommodate talented sportmans, and should they be pushed to decide between sports and education in the Universities, the same age old question will crop up again. "Did you come to University to play sports or to get a degree?". No wonder our graduates did not fare well in the job market. Mind you, I am a University Lecturer!

God knows how many world class sportmen and women Malaysia has missed out on, just down to this mindset and infrastructure.